An Interview with Dr. Walter LaMendola exploring husIta’s past and discussing social work, social technologies, and sustainable community development
Author: Jimmy A. Young, PhD
I am really excited about this episode of the Podcast as I was fortunate enough to interview Dr. Walter LaMendola who is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work and one of the founders of the Human Services Information Technology Association or husITa. Walter provides some history about the development of husITa and offers his perspective of how technologies have progressed in the human services. I was happy to hear more about other individuals who have contributed to this great organization and our discussion about his article “Social Work, Social Technologies, and Sustainable Community Development” from the Journal of Technology in Human Services provided me with some clarity about how important it is for social workers and human service professionals to be involved in the broader technology discussion. Some key takeaways for me included the notion that social technologies, like social media, help facilitate changes in human behavior and can even support and sustain community development. I really appreciated Walter’s ideas about how important technology is to delivering Social Work Education and that social work education has always had a transformative effect on local community life. Naturally we discussed some of the challenges and pitfalls of our current state of technology in regard to ethics and values but agree that we hope our current technologies continue in the tradition of developing networks that are friendly and support cultural values that encourage the flourishing of human beings. Dr. LaMendola reminded me that we need to look at technology as supportive of the human encounter rather than interfering with it, which I think is integral to the mission of the social work profession. I really hope you enjoy this episode of the husITa podcast.
As usual, I want to note that these blog posts are mainly place holders for any links and information that we thought would be good to share with our audience. The Posts will eventually also be home to the episode transcripts. We welcome any digital volunteers who would like to transcribe the episodes and if you feel so inclined, please reach out to us via our Contact page or on social media. Let us know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. See you next month.
Links of Interest:
A Casebook of Computer Applications in the Social and Human Services (1989)
Episode #5:
Twitter: @husITaOrg
LinkedIn: husITa
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/husITaOrg
Listserv Instructions: http://www.husita.org/connect/mailing-list/
husITa home page: www.husITa.org
APA (7th Ed) citation for this podcast:
Young, J. A. (Producer). (2021, April 28). #5 – An Interview with Dr. Walter LaMendola exploring husITa’s past and discussing social work, social technologies, and sustainable community development. [Audio Podcast]. husITa Podcast. Retrieved from https://husita.podbean.com/e/an-interview-with-dr-walter-lamendola-exploring-husita-s-past-and-discussing-social-work-social-technologies-and-sustainable-community-development/